Recently on Stop the Australian Vaccination Network the discussion has inevitably returned to the danger posed by the Australian [anti] Vaccination Network (AVN) to the general health and wellbeing of decent members of society due to the cult like attributes of the AVN.

Here is a list of Cult Characteristics which typifies many traits of the AVN:

“Rick Ross

Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.

  1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
  2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
  3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.
  4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
  5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
  6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
  7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.
  8. Followers feel they can never be “good enough”.
  9. The group/leader is always right.
  10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.”

 

Probably worth investigating each one, right?

  • Meryl Dorey absolutely refuses to have anyone freely examine her claims in a meaningful forum in which she has no control.
  • Anyone who seeks to make such a critical enquiry is either banned, or heckled before they are banned.
  • The AVN is due to appear before the Administrative Decisions Tribunal on 14  February 2011, in an attempt to have its Charitable Fundraising Authority reinstated after being revoked by the NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing, Kevin Greene, due to this OLGR investigation. Referrals from the OLGR were made to the NSW Department of Justice and the NSW Attorney General due to perceived charitable fundraising anomalies. Criminal charges may follow.
  • AVN: Conspiracies are us. You name it; it has been on the AVN page.
  • Dissenting AVN members have been derided and hounded off the AVN page, using tactics such as creating fake indigenous accounts (using pictures and names of deceased, high profile Indigenous Australians: highly offensive) to harass those members. This happened with the full compliance of an AVN page administrator/s.
  • See 5.
  • The Stop the AVN group is an ongoing documentation of the ethical and logical vacuousness of the AVN.
  • Followers often ingratiate themselves to the AVN leadership (more below).
  • Meryl Dorey has never admitted that she was wrong, nor has she ever sincerely apologised for any of her more despicable claims, such as this one.
  • If members of the AVN are to seek out their own information, which is contrary to the teachings of Meryl Dorey, they are ridiculed.

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    We all know well the threat to the community posed by the AVN and its deceitful dissemination of inaccurate, fudged, misunderstood and downright wrong misinformation. Thankfully the media and wider community are now waking up to the danger this type of group presents to the health of our children. But, surely, they are just an isolated group of cranks who end up eating their own, you ask? What threat could these pariahs pose to my friends and family?

    Here is a perfect example of an AVN acolyte in the process of ingratiating herself to Meryl Dorey, whilst providing a public exhibit of why we need to counter the lies of the anti-vaccination movement everywhere:

    One person: deluded; persecution complex; enthralled by the ideologue; seeking approval; putting the lives of children at risk, and proud of it:

    You tell me: does the anti-vaccination movement threaten us all? Damn straight.